'Jeopardy!' Champ James Holzhauer Tries His Hand at the World Series of Poker
By Chad Weiser on June 24, 2019 at 1:22 PM EDT
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James Holzhauer earned more than $2.4 million in 33 appearances during his run on "Jeopardy!" and the trivia whiz is trying to parlay his good luck by entering "The World Series of Poker."
The 35-year-old pro sports gambler, who hails from Las Vegas, was seen Monday sitting in the poker room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
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WSOP bracelet winner Mike Sexton reached out to Holzhauer with a sponsorship opportunity from online card room, PartyPoker. Sexton, PartyPoker's chairman, initially invited Holzhauer to play in the WSOP main event, but there was a scheduling conflict, so he ended up playing in the $1,500 no-limit hold’em super turbo bounty event and the $1,000 no-limit hold’em tag-team events.
"It will be nice if I don’t embarrass myself, but I’m just really hoping to have a good time, and if I happen to win, then that’s gravy," Holzhauer told Cardplayer.com. He added, "I have several friends who are bracelet winners and they’re giving me some quick coaching sessions, that I’m sure will not help."
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As for the potential winnings, Holzhauer and Sexton said that they will donate half of their earnings to Project 150, a charity in Nevada that aims to help homeless and disadvantaged high school students at 61 high schools in the Southern Nevada region and another 20 in the Reno area.
“There are 6,400 homeless teens in the community that really need assistance with everything: food, clothing, a place to sleep at night… they’re giving these teens a shot to break the cycle of poverty,” Holzhauer said about Project 150.
It's unclear how Holzhauer will fare without any Daily Doubles to take advantage of, but hopefully he's up to the challenge.
Good luck!
As for "Jeopardy!" Holzhauer unfortunately lost the regular-season earnings record, held by Ken Jennings, by a measly $56,484.
Jennings famously amassed $2,520,700 during his 74-win streak in 2004.
